Dutch/Vocabulary/The numbers

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Counting is often the first thing one wants to learn when visiting another country.

0 to 10[edit | edit source]

0
noicon
nul
1
noicon
één, een
2
noicon
twee
3
noicon
drie
4
noicon
vier
5
noicon
vijf
6
noicon
zes
7
noicon
zeven
8
noicon
acht
9
noicon
negen
10
noicon
tien

Notice that the cardinal 1 (one) is usually written using stress marks as één to distinguish it from the unstressed indefinite article een (English a or an). However stress marking is only allowed in Dutch if otherwise confusion might arise. Thus the marks are not always written.

Zeven is sometimes pronounced as "zeuven" [zøvə(n)] to distinguish it better from "negen".

11 to 20[edit | edit source]

11
noicon
elf
12
noicon
twaalf
13
noicon
dertien
14
noicon
veertien
15
noicon
vijftien
16
noicon
zestien
17
noicon
zeventien
18
noicon
achttien
19
noicon
negentien

As in English the first two are irregular; they betray an ancient suffix -lif as in English.

The rest has -tien as a suffix with a few irregularities

20 to 100[edit | edit source]

The equivalent of -ty in English is -tig.

20. twintig
30. dertig
40. veertig
50. vijftig
60. zestig
70. zeventig
80. tachtig
90. negentig

The "z" of zestig and zeventig are usually pronounced as [s], not [z].

21, 22 etc.[edit | edit source]

In contrast to English the units come first

21 eenentwintig ("oneandtwenty")

If the unit ends in a vowel and this collides with the vowel of "en" a diaeresis (trema) is used:

22 tweeëntwintig

100, 200[edit | edit source]

In contrast to English, Dutch just uses "hundred", not "one hundred"

100. honderd
101. honderdéén
200. tweehonderd
201. tweehonderdéén
300. driehonderd
400. vierhonderd
500. vijfhonderd
600. zeshonderd
700. zevenhonderd
800. achthonderd
900. negenhonderd

1000 to 100,000[edit | edit source]

This basically goes the same. Notice that Dutch uses periods as separators for factors of one thousand rather than commas. This notation is the reverse of the English one. Dutch has a decimal comma, not a decimal point.

1000. duizend
1001. duizend (en) één
1012 duizend twaalf
1524 duizend vijfhonderdvierentwintig or vijftienhonderdvierentwintig
2000. tweeduizend
5000. vijfduizend
10.000. tienduizend
15.324 vijftienduizend driehondervierentwintig
20.000. twintigduizend
50.000. vijftigduizend
100.000. honderdduizend

For years the 'honderd' is often dropped, similar to English:

In 1355: in dertien vijfenvijftig.

All numerals up to 1000 are written as one word. After -duizend there is always a space.

Large numbers[edit | edit source]

1.000.000. één miljoen
1.500.000. één miljoen vijfhonderdduizend
2.000.000. twee miljoen

For larger numbers Dutch uses the long scale rather than the short scale, which is currently used in all English-speaking countries. There are two suffixes -joen and -jard that alternate.

1.000.000.000. miljard
1.000.000.000.000. biljoen
1.000.000.000.000.000. biljard
1.000.000.000.000.000.000. triljoen
1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000. triljard

The words miljoen, miljard etc. are always written as separate words with spaces on both sides.

Fractions[edit | edit source]

The ordinals are used to express fractions (as in English)

een derde - a third

Exceptions are:

een half - 1/2
anderhalf - 1 1/2
een kwart - 1/4

Numerators and denominators are written as separate words:

twee derde - 2/3
drie duizenste - 3/1000

But in compounds the general rule of compounding prevails:

een tweederdemeerderheid - a two thirds majority

Decimals[edit | edit source]

Remember that Dutch uses a decimal comma rather than a decimal point.

6,7%: zes komma zeven procent.

Self-test[edit | edit source]

Dutch/Vocabulary/The numbers/Hover test